Luck
by shinachiku-uzumaki
Summary: Shinachiku was born only a week ago to the new parents Naruto and Sakura. Naruto relishes in his new life with his new son. NaruSaku


"Sakura_-chan_, are you sure you'll be all right?"

She eyed him from the door way as he fidgeted in place. She gave birth a week ago, but by no means was she incapacitated. Sakura rolled her eyes, but she didn't hide the small smile that graced her lips.

"Naruto, I'm going to the store. I need a few more things. It won't be more than an hour or two."

"Yeah but-"

"And if you need help with anything, you can call me. Or my mother. Maybe even Tsunade." To make a point, she held up her phone, shaking it in a teasing manner. "Her number is in your phone, or on the fridge."

"I know I know, but-"

"Naruto, are you scared or something?" Although she started to open the door, she closed it again. "He's a baby, and he's sleeping. You just need to watch over him."

"… But what if I screw up?"

"You won't screw up. You've been great with him so far."

"But that's because you're here."

Sakura sighed, opening the door again. "It'll be alright Naruto. Just be careful with him, ok?"

Naruto mumbled nervously, but kissed her forehead farewell before she exited their cozy apartment. It was an organized mess, however contradictory that sounded. Their living room was filled with various gifts for their new son. Diapers, clothes, toys, bedding, everything a baby might need, and probably some things he didn't need courtesy of Ino, Sakura's best friend. Their kitchen, while clean, was too small to hold all the extra dishes and baby food they'd gotten.

Naruto wanted to have a home before their son arrived, or at least a bigger apartment, but not everything went as planned. They still hadn't found a suitable place where they both agreed.

Naruto broke out of his daze when he heard cooing coming from the small hallway. He crept towards it, he didn't want to make too much noise if their son still slept. He peeked into their bedroom where a small cradle sat next to the bed he and Sakura shared. From the door, he saw their child stirring.

"Shinachiku?" Naruto whispered. Naruto sat on the edge of the bed, leaning over the cradle that held their son. Of course, he didn't respond to his name, but the small infants head jerked curiously toward the sound of his voice. Naruto wondered if babies recognized the voices of people who spent a lot of time around the mother like they say. He couldn't tell if Shinachiku reacted to any noise, or to their voices.

Shinachiku cooed again, his small arms flailed around his body. Naruto chuckled, placing a hand gently on his small head.

"You're wide awake, aren't you? What are we going to do now?" Naruto traced his hand around Shinachiku's head. His hair was soft. It was a strange mixture of blond and rose, Naruto and Sakura couldn't tell if it were pink or blond. His ears were thin and soft; it was hard to resist rubbing them between his fingers. His nose was but a tiny little button on his wrinkled newborn face, he anxiously awaited the days when Shinachiku would giggle from his teasing poking.

He gazed into his sons wondering eyes, they had changed color again. When he was just born, they were brown. The color had lightened over the days, becoming closer to the the color of olives. Sakura told him that a baby's eye color changed many times until the true color revealed itself. Naruto hoped this meant Shinachiku would inherit Sakura's green eyes.

Sakura.

Naruto had to admit, he probably stressed Sakura during her pregnancy. He attempts to make her comfortable often ended in her being uncomfortable. She got annoyed when he asked her too many times if she needed anything or felt comfortable. He wasn't sure what else he could do, seeing her discomfort made him feel guilty. But Sakura reassured him that as long as he was there for her to squeeze or cuddle, his debt would be repaid.

When Shinachiku whined, Naruto nearly panicked, but calmed himself. Just because Sakura wasn't here didn't mean he was completely useless. He reached into the cradle, holding Shinachiku with support behind his head, just as Sakura had taught him. He had plenty of practice holding him over the past few days.

"How about this Shinachiku," He carried him out of the room into the living room. Naruto had purchased a soft rocking reclining chair during Sakura's pregnancy. It proved useful to proving comfort during her pregnancy and a nice place to rock Shinachiku to sleep. "Let's think up a nick name for you. Shinachiku can be a bit of a mouthful for a baby eh?" Naruto sat and readjusted his arms to hold Shinachiku more comfortably. Although Shinachiku gave no verbal response, his curious eyes answered for him.

"_Shina-chi-ku_. We have three syllables to work with. _'Shina-chan'_. That one is super easy. Maybe too easy. Or, there's _'Chiku-chan'_. I don't think you'd like that one very much." As he spoke, Shinachiku squirmed, as if he were reacting to Naruto's ideas. "How about this, we'll call you _'Shina-chan'_, but we'll use _'Chiku-chan'_ to tease you. Sound fair_'ttebayo_?"

When his baby gurgled, Naruto snorted in amusement, holding his son closer. "Then, I'll take that as agreement."

Naruto rocked back and forth as Shinachiku fell back into slumber. It was… surreal. He had a child now, a son, sleeping in his arms in the safety of their home. He married to the woman of his dreams, his best friend, his worst critic, his number one supported. He never thought he'd be at this point in his life, he never thought he could be so happy.

His eyes stung. He raised his free arm and draped it over his dampening face. "Hey… Shinachiku? How did I end up so _lucky_?"

* * *

Sakura quietly entered the apartment. Although they purchased plenty of food for Shinachiku, they hardly had any for themselves. She restocked their fridge; it was nice to be doing something purposeful. She took a four month leave from her hospital duties to recover and to care for Shinachiku with Naruto. Sitting around the house with nothing urgent to do became more stressful than she expected. Doing a little shopping for their benefit quelled the need to be doing more. If she told Naruto the real reason she went out, he would whine for hours she was doing more than enough.

"Naruto?" Sakura left the kitchen, peeking into the hall and into the living room. Naruto was still on the reclining chair with their son, sleeping. He didn't get much sleep last night as he took over consoling their restless baby.

The sun streamed over them from the nearby window. In the light, Shinachiku's hair looked less pink and more of a strawberry blond. Naruto looked exhausted, but peaceful in his sleep. Sakura smiled and absorbed the scene before she walked closer, gently removing Shinachiku from his grasps. She returned Shinachiku to his cradle before returning to the living room to place a quilt over Naruto's exhausted body.

Naruto was going above and beyond to handle the extra responsibility of their new child and not just rely on her. Even before Shinachiku came to be, he promised he would, and he fulfilled that promise so far. She rarely saw any fathers do as much as Naruto did in the hospital. More often than not, the women looked exhausted and the men looked rested, but in this case, it was the opposite. Of course she was tired; who had the ability to sleep through the cry of their child? But Naruto did all her normal chores and his. The cooking, the cleaning, she felt a little guilty and useless having him do everything, but he wouldn't settle for less.

"How's shopping?"

Sakura started, she realized she had been staring at Naruto's face. His eyes remained closed.

"Quick and easy, as I said it would be. How are you?"

He shifted under the blanket. "I'm fine."

"Are you?"

"… Maybe a little tired'ttebayo," He grinned sheepishly. "But I did great Sakura_-chan_." Sakura shook her head in amusement as she leaned over and placed a return kiss upon his forehead.

"Get some rest, _idiot_." She would use the time wisely to feed Shinachiku his lunch.


End file.
